Category Archives: 1 vs All

Space Cat is a HUGE X-Files fan. I remember one day, long ago, Space Cat and I were hanging out in our dorm room (I’ve known her a LONG time). She was playing around with some X-Files stuff on her computer and played two sound bites for me. Both were Scully saying, “Mulder.” Space Cat asked if I could tell the difference between the two, and I said no. Space Cat was able to tell me which episodes the sound bites were from. They were not labeled with this information. It was impressive, if a little disconcerting.

Given how much she adores this show, it was not surprising that she bought the board game. It’s a five player game, so we saved it for Tabletop Day (Clumsy Ninja had to work on Tabletop Day).

President Gamer was elected to be the Cigarette Smoking Man (CSM) because of his experience as Mister X.

This is the play by play of the previously posted story mode.
Professor and I have played this game one other time, and he killed me first (he said he wanted me to be his zombie bride). We decided to try it out with Clumsy Ninja and Space Cat.

Professor wants to kill us (meaning he wants to turn us all into zombies)

Survivors need to deplete the Zombie deck

Town:

House

Lake

Hippy Farm

Gun Store

Department Store

Supermarket

Supermarket

House

House

The Town

When Survivors move, they each roll for noise. If they make noise, Professor draws a zombie card.

We started by moving to the Supermarket: Space Cat made noise (not sneaky), Clumsy Ninja did not make noise (sneaky), Chubby Unicorn made noise (not sneaky), so Professor drew 2 cards. Professor played a Basic Zombie, and combat began. Survivors secretly choose to Fight, Shoot, or Escape (Escape is 4+ die roll on a d6). Everyone chose to Fight, but no one has a weapon so we had to use melee.

Space Cat – 1 damage to zombie

Clumsy Ninja – missed

Chubby Unicorn – 1 damage to zombie

1st zombie fight

Zombie dealt 1 damage to Space Cat (Professor chooses)

We chose to fight the zombie again (instead of running away), and Chubby Unicorn did one more point of damage, killing the zombie. Then it was the Loot phase. Clumsy Ninja rolled a 3, so we got 4 supply cards:

Energy drink, provisions, backpack, and barricade

Chubby Unicorn took the backpack and provisions, Space Cat the barricade, and Clumsy Ninja the energy drink. Then we entered the Rest phase (play/equip/trade cards). Chubby Unicorn equipped backpack and running shoes and gave Clumsy Ninja shells, Space Cat equipped backpack and played barricade on Supermarket, and Clumsy Ninja equipped her shotgun. Because of the barricade, we were able to discard three provisions (we each had one), and Professor had to discard 14 cards from the Zombie deck.

Discarding provisions

We decided to move to Department Store, and rolled for noise:

Clumsy Ninja – not sneaky

Space Cat – not sneaky

Chubby Unicorn – sneaky

Professor drew 2 cards, and played another Basic Zombie, but then he added Vicious and Ravenous cards. Combat began and we choose to Fight, Shoot, or Escape:

Clumsy Ninja – shoot

Space Cat and Chubby Unicorn – fight

Zombie at the Department Store

Clumsy Ninja rolled for shotgun, got a 5 for 3 damage killing the zombie, which moved us into the Loot phase. Clumsy Ninja rolled so well for combat, we had her roll again for loot. We got 4 supplies and 1 munitions:

Shotgun, energy drink, ninja spray, jumper cables, and C4

Chubby Unicorn took the energy drink, Space Cat took the shotgun and C4, and Clumsy Ninja took Ninja spray (of course) and jumper cables. We then entered the Rest phase, and Space Cat equipped her shotgun.

Loot from the Department Store

Next we decided to move to the Gun Store, because we didn’t have any shells for the shotguns, and Chubby Unicorn didn’t have a weapon. We rolled for noise:

Chubby Unicorn – not sneaky

Space Cat – not sneaky

Clumsy Ninja – not sneaky

Professor drew 3 cards and played another Basic Zombie and added Lucky to it. He also decided the Gun Store was haunted (he played Graveyard on it). Combat began, and we all chose to fight:

Space Cat – 2 damage

Clumsy Ninja – 1 damage

Chubby Unicorn didn’t need to roll because the zombie was dead. Now it was the Loot phase, and we got 1 supply card and 4 munitions:

bear trap, katana, baseball bat, hand cannon, and bullets

Loot from the Gun Store

Chubby Unicorn took the hand cannon and bullets, Space Cat took the baseball bat, and Clumsy Ninja took the katana (of course) and the bear trap. We entered our Rest phase, and Chubby Unicorn equipped her new hand cannon, Space Cat her baseball bat, and Clumsy Ninja equipped her katana and Ninja spray. Chubby Unicorn also discarded a Basic Supply to draw another munitions (bullets).

Our next stop was a House. We rolled for noise:

Chubby Unicorn – not sneaky

Space Cat – not sneaky

Clumsy Ninja – not sneaky

Professor drew 3 cards and played another Basic Zombie, which we all chose to fight:

Space Cat – 2 damage

Clumsy Ninja – missed

Chubby Unicorn – 1 damage

The zombie died, and we got loot! We got 3 supplies and 1 munition:

baseball bat, running shoes, provisions, bandages

Chubby Unicorn got the baseball bat (equipped in rest phase) and provisions and Space Cat got running shoes (equipped in rest phase) and healed her 1 damage with the bandages. We then decided to move back to the Supermarket because we wanted to get through some more of the Zombie deck. We rolled for noise, and we were all sneaky. Professor didn’t get to draw any cards, but he again played a Basic Zombie. We once again chose to fight. Space Cat used her baseball bat, rolled a 6, and killed the zombie. We then discarded 3 supply cards, and Professor discarded 7 cards.

We then decided to move to the other Supermarket because it had the best chance for the most supplies. We rolled for noise:

Unfortunately, Chubby Unicorn missed (Professor got to draw a card because her hand cannon made noise), and Space Cat missed. Clumsy Ninja used her katana and managed to do 2 damage to the zombie, but then she took 1 damage from the zombie. We fought again, and Clumsy Ninja finished off the exploding zombie (without it exploding). We got 6 cards in the Loot phase:

Chubby Unicorn took provisions, football pads (equipped in rest phase), and noisemaker, Space Cat took the jumper cables (in case Clumsy Ninja needed to be revived), and Clumsy Ninja took the backpack and running shoes (equipped in rest phase).

Next stop was another House. We rolled for noise:

Chubby Unicorn – sneaky

Space Cat – not sneaky

Clumsy Ninja – not sneaky

Professor drew 2 cards and played an Exploding Ex-Survivor (5 life, drops 2 supplies and 1 munitions when killed, and explodes if dealt 3 total damage in combat)

Combat began:

Chubby Unicorn – shoot

Space Cat – fight

Clumsy Ninja – fight

Again Chubby Unicorn missed, and Professor drew a card. Space Cat dealt 1 damage as did Clumsy Ninja, who again took 1 damage from the zombie. We chose to go again, and this time Chubby Unicorn’s hand cannon did 3 damage (Professor drew a card) and Clumsy Ninja’s katana did 2 damage, which meant the zombie exploded! Clumsy Ninja rolled for damage and died! Space Cat didn’t take any damage, so she attempted to revive Clumsy Ninja with jumper cables. She rolled a 4, and Clumsy Ninja regained 1 life. Woo! The zombie dropped bullets, smoke bomb, and football pads. For loot we got 3 supplies and 1 weapon:

Chubby Unicorn took provisions and zom-b-gone, and Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja each took a noisemaker. Chubby Unicorn now had 3 provisions, so we headed back to the Supermarket. Chubby Unicorn didn’t roll well for noise, but used her ninja spray, so no one made noise. Professor played Triple Threat which meant he got to play 3 Zombies: 1 with Burning (if fight misses, take 1 damage). Everyone chose to fight:

Chubby Unicorn – baseball bat 1 damage

Space Cat – baseball bat 3 damage to burning zombie

Clumsy Ninja – katana 2 damage

We killed 2 of the zombies, which left 1 zombie at full health, so Clumsy Ninja took 1 damage but used football pads to absorb it. We chose to fight again:

Chubby Unicorn – baseball bat missed

Space Cat – baseball bat 2 damage

Clumsy Ninja – katana missed

Again Clumsy Ninja took 1 damage and used football pads to absorb it (football pads discarded), and we had to fight one more time to kill the zombie. Space Cat used her baseball bat to kill it. Chubby Unicorn discarded 3 provisions and Professor discarded 14 cards. He revealed that he only had 12 cards left in his deck, so we hunkered down, and Chubby Unicorn discarded 3 basic supplies to make Professor discard 7 cards. We hunkered down once more, and Space Cat discarded 3 basic supplies to make Professor discard the rest of his cards.

Back to the Supermarket

Survivors win!

This is a really fun 1 vs all game, and it’s simple game play means it’s easy to learn. There was some confusion at the beginning on when cards could be played and the difference between provisions and basic supplies (all supplies can be basic supplies if played/discarded face down), but we quickly sorted all that out. It gives the zombie apocalypse a sense of humor. The text on the Ex-Survivor zombie card reads “So that’s what happened to Bill!” Of course your ability to survive heavily depends on the supplies and munitions you can get. Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja just couldn’t get ahold of any shells for their shotguns (I was lucky to get all those bullets), but they did some good damage with their baseball bat and katana. It’s definitely a game we’ll play again.

Clumsy Ninja, Space Cat, and Chubby Unicorn looked down on the small town. It seemed the only structures still standing were a few houses, a couple supermarkets, a department store, a gun store, and what looked like a hippy farm.

“Do we have to go down there?” Space Cat asked, watching a few zombies shuffling around.

“We don’t have enough supplies,” Chubby Unicorn replied.

“Plus we’re going to need weapons,” Clumsy Ninja pointed out.

Reluctantly Space Cat agreed, and they decided one of the supermarkets would be a good place to start looking for supplies. They stayed out of sight and crept along the eerily quiet streets. Space Cat was so busy looking out for zombies, she didn’t see the metal trash can. She ran into it with a crash, and the others turned to her with wide eyes before they all hastily moved on. They had almost made it to the doors of the supermarket when Chubby Unicorn bumped against a shopping cart. She grabbed for it, but it rolled out of her reach and crashed into another abandoned cart.

They dashed inside only to find a zombie.

Clumsy Ninja was in the lead and took an instinctive swing at the zombie using her empty shotgun as a blunt instrument, but she was off balance and completely missed. Space Cat and Chubby Unicorn jumped in, each landing a solid hit on the undead. Space Cat cried out and pulled back, her arm bleeding from a deep scratch, but Chubby Unicorn was able to finish off the zombie before it could do any more damage.

“I’m not going to become a zombie, right?” Space Cat asked.

“You’ll be fine,” Chubby Unicorn assured her. “It would help if we could find some bandages. Just try to keep pressure on it.”

Space Cat nodded, and the three of them looked around the store.

“Doesn’t seem to be much left,” Clumsy Ninja noted.

“Let’s split up and meet back here with what we find,” Chubby Unicorn said.

It didn’t take long to gather the meager supplies left. They managed to find an intact backpack, an energy drink, and a box of provisions.

“I saw one of those flat carts,” Clumsy ninja said. “If we could tip in onto that, we might be able to move it.”

“Then we could block the doors, and bunker down for the night,” Space Cat said.

It sounded like a good idea. Chubby Unicorn took the backpack and filled it with the provisions, and Clumsy Ninja pocketed the energy drink. While Clumsy Ninja went to find the cart for the barricade, Space at pulled a small bag out of her pocket.

“What’s that?” Chubby Unicorn asked.

Space Cat opened the drawstring and unfolded the fabric. “It’s a backpack. If we’re going to be picking up stuff, I figured I should have it ready.”

Chubby Unicorn nodded as she tightened the laces on her running shoes. Clumsy Ninja returned with the cart, and between the three of them they managed to move the barricade just outside the doors.

“I think we should stay here for the night,” Chubby Unicorn said. “With Space Cat’s wound, we don’t want the zombies smelling fresh blood.” The others agreed. “Also,” she said a bit sheepishly, “I forgot I had these in my pocket.”

She handed Clumsy Ninja shells.

“Well, we’ll probably need them later.”

With that they settled in for the night.

The next morning they decided to start with the department store next door, unfortunately Clumsy Ninja and Space Cat both made quite the racket in their dash and drew the attention of what looked like a ravenous and rather vicious zombie. Now that Clumsy Ninja had shells for shotgun, she fired and killed the zombie with one shot. They ducked into the store before any other zombies could show up, and started looking for supplies.

“What kind of department store is this?” Space Cat asked, holding up another shotgun and a pack of C4.

“A weird one, but I like it,” Clumsy Ninja said as she displayed her finds: jumper cables and ninja spray.

Chubby Unicorn didn’t think Clumsy Ninja needed any more energy, and tucked the energy drink she found into her backpack. “Now that you both have shotguns, should we see if the gun store next door has any more ammo?”

“We might also be able to find you a weapon,” Clumsy Ninja pointed out.

It should have been simple. They only had to go next door, but there was so much debris on the sidewalk that they couldn’t help but make noise. It wasn’t surprising when a zombie came into view. Even though they didn’t have ammo, Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja managed to take down the zombie and enter the gun store.

“Now this is what I’m taking about!” Clumsy Ninja said wielding a katana with one hand and holding up a bear trap in the other.

Space Cat’s grip on the baseball bat she’d found seemed to tighten, but Chubby Unicorn didn’t say anything. She simply loaded her new hand cannon.

“Doesn’t seem like there’s any more ammo here. Where to next?”

They would have to cross a street now, and the house seemed closer, so they ran headlong and heedless of any noise they made. Still the zombie managed to catch them by surprise, and Clumsy Ninja’s wild swing missed. Though Chubby Unicorn had completely forgotten about her new weapon, she and Space Cat managed to take care of things. Unfortunately they didn’t find any ammo in the house, but Chubby Unicorn found more provisions and a baseball bat. Space Cat managed to find running shoes for her tiny feet and bandages for her wounded arm.

“It’s going to be getting dark soon,” Space Cat said.

Chubby Unicorn nodded. “This isn’t the best play to stay. Maybe we should head back to the supermarket for the night?”

They agreed and felt like they were doing really well until they were spotted by a zombie. Space Cat got lucky with her swing, and managed to kill the zombie.

“Nice!” Clumsy Ninja said when they were safely inside the supermarket. “I’m glad we’ve got you on our side.”

“Thanks.”

They settled down with their meager supplies, hoping the barricade would continue to keep out the zombies.

“I think we have to hit that other supermarket,” Clumsy Ninja said the next morning. “It’s our best chance at more supplies.”

The others agreed, and they headed out. Everything was going fine until Space Cat dropped her baseball bat. She snatched it back up, but the damage had been done, and in moments a zombie was shuffling towards them.

“Does something seem different about this one?” Chubby Unicorn asked.

“It does look a little… volatile,” Clumsy Ninja said.

The bigger concern was that it was coming right for them. Chubby Unicorn shot at it but missed, and Space Cat also couldn’t manage to connect with her bat. Clumsy Ninja stepped in with her katana, and after a brief skirmish she killed the zombie. Unfortunately she came away with injuries of her own, and there weren’t any bandages left.

“Let’s get inside before the blood attracts any more,” Chubby Unicorn said, and they ducked into the supermarket.

Clumsy Ninja went off in search of bandages, but only managed to find a backpack and a good pair of running shoes for herself. Chubby Unicorn found some more provisions and a funny looking alarm clock which she thought might come in handy, and strapped on a set of football pads. They felt bulky and awkward, but she hoped they might provide some protection. Space Cat tucked another set of jumper cables away in her backpack just in case they needed them.

“That house might have bandages,” Space Cat suggested.

There was even more debris in this area, and both Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja tripped over some of it.

“Oh no!” Chubby Unicorn said when a zombie shambled into view.

“What is it?” Clumsy Ninja asked.

“It’s Bill! So that’s what happened to him.”

“You know him?” Space Cat asked.

“Well, I did. You know, before he was a zombie.”

Perhaps her personal connection to this new threat was why she missed, but Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja managed to do some damage. Unfortunately, Clumsy Ninja was once again wounded. Chubby Unicorn fired again, and between her shot and Clumsy Ninja’s katana, zombie Bill was no more.

Then the unexpected happened. The undead corpse exploded! Chubby Unicorn and Space Cat were fine, but Clumsy Ninja had just been in close combat with the zombie. They rushed to her side.

“I can’t find a pulse!” Chubby Unicorn cried.

Space Cat looked around and noticed an abandoned car nearby. She ran over. The inside was a bit messy, but she managed to find the latch to pop the hood. She ran back to Chubby Unicorn.

“Quick, help me get her over to that car.”

Chubby Unicorn didn’t question her, and they dragged their lifeless companion over to the vehicle.

Space Cat opened the hood. Then she attached the jumper cables.

“What are you doing?” Chubby Unicorn finally asked.

“Don’t worry, I saw them do this on TV once,” Space Cat replied and touched the cables to Clumsy Ninja’s chest.

There was a loud pop and a puff of smoke. Chubby Unicorn was sure Space Cat had lit Clumsy Ninja on fire, but she watched in amazement as Clumsy Ninja groaned and coughed.

“What happened?” she wheezed, looking at her scorched clothing.

“I brought you back to life,” Space Cat said, holding up the cables and smiling.

“Thanks,” Clumsy Ninja said.

“I think you can put those away now,” Chubby Unicorn said a little fearfully.

They helped Clumsy Ninja to her feet, and headed back to the house.

“Look, I think that zombie dropped some stuff,” Space Cat said.

Sure enough, around the area of the explosion they found football pads, a smoke bomb, and bullets. They were surprised it had survived the explosion intact, but gathered it up and went into the house. Once they’d searched the place, they used the bandages they’d found to patch up Clumsy Ninja and insisted she wear the football pads. They also gave her a baseball bat and the smoke bomb. Chubby Unicorn used the bullets to reload her hand cannon and kept the ninja spray.

“I think we have time to go to that last house before heading back to the supermarket,” Space Cat said, putting the energy drink in her backpack.

As Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja stumbled through the debris on the way, they marveled at Chubby Unicorn’s ability to move silently through it all.

“Is that a mutant zombie? Or am I delirious from recently dying?” Clumsy Ninja asked.

“It definitely doesn’t look normal,” Space Cat agreed. “Also, it’s dressed like it should be in a music video.”

“I say we kill it anyway,” Chubby Unicorn said, shooting at the zombie.

Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja jumped in with their baseball bat and katana and finished it off. They quickly stepped back in case it exploded, but when nothing happened they continued on their way into the house.

“Any idea what these weird alarm clocks do?” Chubby Unicorn asked, holding up two devices that looked exactly like the one she’d picked up earlier.

“Maybe we could use them as a diversion,” Space Cat suggested, taking one and passing the other to Clumsy Ninja.

“Maybe,” Chubby Unicorn replied and put some more provision and a can that said Zom-B-Gone into her backpack. “Let’s get back to the supermarket.”

“I would definitely like to rest,” Clumsy Ninja said.

Chubby Unicorn tried out her ninja spray, and surprisingly no one made any noise as they trekked back to the supermarket. Despite their stealth, they were met by three zombies outside the store. To make matters worse, it appeared that one of them was on fire, and Chubby Unicorn was out of bullets. They attacked with their baseball bats and katana. Space Cat took out the burning zombie, and Chubby Unicorn and Clumsy Ninja managed to kill another, but there was still that last one.

“Why is it always me?” Clumsy Ninja wailed as the zombie lunged at her.

Thankfully it only got a mouthful of her football pads. She was at a bad angle to hit it, and her swings missed. Chubby Unicorn, afraid she might hit Clumsy Ninja, also missed with her baseball bat, but Space Cat got in there an managed to knock it away. It lunged again and again it latched on to the football pads. Clumsy Ninja managed to get them off, and once she was clear, Space Cat killed the zombie.

They scrambled into the supermarket before anything else could happen, and collapsed on the floor.

“I say we don’t go out there again,” Clumsy Ninja said.

“I think we have enough supplies to stay for three nights,” Clumsy Unicorn said, taking stock of her backpack’s contents.

“Good, let’s do that.”

Two days later, they emerged from the supermarket and slowly and carefully searched the town. There were no zombies anywhere.

This is a play by play of the previously posted story mode.
I remember playing Scotland Yard a lot when I was younger. It was probably one of the first games I played that had a cooperative aspect. I like being able to talk out my moves and get advice. Mister X is very similar to Scotland Yard – one player is the criminal while the rest are detectives trying to catch him, and tokens are used to make moves. When we first started playing Mister X, President Gamer volunteered to be Mister X. This meant his wife was one of the detectives. Other than the one time The Professor has been Mister X, this is how we played the game, probably because President Gamer was determined to outsmart his wife and win the game!